HA-1247

David Smith House (Harford Furnace Charcoal Shed)

Architectural Survey File

This is the architectural survey file for this MIHP record. The survey file is organized reverse-

chronological (that is, with the latest material on top). It contains all MIHP inventory forms, National

Register nomination forms, determinations of eligibility (DOE) forms, and accompanying documentation

such as photographs and maps.

Users should be aware that additional undigitized material about this property may be found in on-site

architectural reports, copies of HABS/HAER or other documentation, drawings, and the “vertical files” at

the MHT Library in Crownsville. The vertical files may include newspaper clippings, field notes, draft

versions of forms and architectural reports, photographs, maps, and drawings. Researchers who need a

thorough understanding of this property should plan to visit the MHT Library as part of their research

project; look at the MHT web site (mht.maryland.gov) for details about how to make an appointment.

All material is property of the Maryland Historical Trust.

Last Updated: 02-18-2004

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Harford Furnace Charcoal Shed/David Smith House Creswell Road Bel Air, Maryland 21014

This one-story, gable-roofed stone structure measuring 70 X 22 feet was built as a charcoal shed for the Harford Furnace ironworks. It probably dates from the final iron­works owned and run by Clement Dietrich from 1867 until 1876. His holdings comprised 5873 acres as well as a water and steam power charcoal iron furnace, ore and charcoal kilns, a pyroligneous acid chemical works, a carbonization building, a mythelene building, a building for the manufacture of acetic acid and acetates, a "flouring mill", a steam saw mill, and a variety of dwellings and community service buildings for the workers. The charcoal shed and some ruins on James Run are all that remain of this once-huge industrial complex.

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MARYLAND HISTORICAL TRUST MAGI ~ 1 ·-;;124·1•-;r)~A-

INVENTORY FORM FOR STATE HISTORIC SITES SURVEY

6NAME HISTORIC

ANO/OR COMMON

David Smith house

flLOCATION STREET&NUMBER (2606)

West side ofACreswell Road, south of intersection with Goat Hill Road

CITY. TOWN Bel Air

STA~aryland

VICINITY OF

21014

DcLASSIFICATION

CATEGORY

_QI STRICT

~UILOING(S) _STRUCTURE

_SITE

_OBJECT

OWNERSHIP STATUS

-PUBLIC )<..._OCCUPIED

,'X-PRIVATE _UNOCCUPIED

-BOTH _WORK IN PROGRESS

PUBLIC ACQUISITION ACCESSIBLE _IN PROCESS 'X.-YES RESTRICTED

-BEING CONSIDERED _YES: UNRESTRICTED

_NO

DOWNER OF PROPERTY NAME

Mr. & Mrs. David Smith

STREET & NUMBER

Creswell Road., Harford Furnace,

CITY. TOWN

Bel Air, _ v1c1N1TY oF

llLOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE.

REGISTRY oF DEEDS.ETC Harford County Courthouse

STREET & NUMBER 40 South Main Street

CITY. TOWN Bel Air,

II REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE

DATE

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

COUNTY Harford

PRESENT USE

_AGRICULTURE _MUSEUM

_COMMERCIAL __ PARK

_EDUCATIONAL )'I.PRIVATE RESIDENCE

_ENTERTAINMENT _RELIGIOUS

_GOVERNMENT _SCIENTIFIC

_INDUSTRIAL

_MILITARY

Telephone #:

_TRANSPORTATION

_OTHER

STATE , Zl.P. code Maryland 21014

Liber #: Folio #:

STATE Maryland 21014

_FEDERAL _STATE _COUNTY -.LOCAL

DEPOSITORY FOR

SURVEY RECORDS

CITY. TOWN STATE

B DESCRIPTION

JLEXCELLENT

_GOOD

_ FAIR

CONDITION

_DETERIORATED

_RUINS

_UNEXPOSED

CHECK ONE

_UNALTERED

~LTERED

CHECK ONE

X..ORIGINAL SITE

-MOVED DATE __ _

DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSl&-AL APl;'~RANq

This structure, said to have been the charcoal she~r :I~WJ.~'C?a.t'ed°oh-.::_creswell Road, just south of the intersection with Goat Hill Road.

This one-story, stone building measuring 70 x 22 feet was converted into a resi­dence 30 years ago. With a recent addition on the south, the building is of coursed stone with a slate gable roof, a bargeboard with a wave pattern, and an interior brick chimney east of center. A11 woodwork has been replaced (mostly with duplicates of the original elements) as have the doors and windows (now mostly with 6/1 sash). Original windows-in the gables, at least-had 6/6 sash, and the doors were of vertical boards braced and battened; the original bargeboard was of a wave design similar to the present one.

In addition, several window openings ar~ new: where there were single gable windows are now paired windows; in the east end, th~riginal door was made into a window and a new door was opened south of it; in the north side where apparently there was a central. entrance flanked by a window on each side are now two windows east of the center entrance and two windows and three lunettes to the west. (The latter fills in the space that held the original entrance.)

CONTINUE ON SEPARATE SHEET IF NECESSARY

II SIGNIFICANCE

PERIOD AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW

_PREHISTORIC __ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC _COMMUNITY PLANNING _LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT.URE _RELIGION

_1400-1499 __ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC _CONSERVATION _LAW _SCIENCE

_1500-1599 __AGRICULTURI;: _ECONOMICS _LITERATURE _SCULPTURE

_1600-1699 __ARCHITECTURE _EDUCATION _MILITARY _SOCIAUHUMANITARIAN

_ 1700-1799 _ART _ENGINEERING _MUSIC _THEATER

x_ 1800-1899 _COMMERCE _EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT _PHILOSOPHY _TRANSPORTATION

_1900- _COMMUNICATIONS X_INDUSTRY _POLITICS/GOVERNMENT _OTHER !SPECIFY)

_INVENTION

SPECIFIC DATES BUILDER/ ARCHITECT

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

This house was probably a charcoal shed for the Harford Furnace ironworks. The Harford Fu.mace ironworks that closed down in 1876 was the last in a series of

furnaces on Bush River. The first-Bush River Ironworks-was among the fi~een or twenty furnaces that were established between 1733 and 1767 under the Maryland General Assembly Acts allowing for land acquisition by writ ad quod damnum. The date of precept for the Bush River Ironworks was February 27, 1746; the date of patent was 1750: 70 acres on Bush River were granted to Isaac Webster, John Hall, and Jacob Giles. The eXact location of the Bush River Ironworks is unknown. Described as being part of the "Come By Chance" 311d "Whitaker's Ehl.argement", it is thought to have been close to the town of Bush, since the original patent was described as being near the Quaker meeting house.

By the time the ironworks (comprising a furnace, grist mill, saw mill, dwellings, jles, smith shops and dam) were sold in 1776, John Bond, John Webster, and James

1--oster had joined the partnership. The reason for dissolution is undocumented, but one source suggests that the labor supply was erratic, consisting primarily of convicts trans­ported or indented here (i.e. redemptioners whose services were sold to repay their pass­age expenses).

The second furnace in this area was established by three Pennsylvanians: John Kirk, Samuel Irwin, and John Withers. They agreed to raise a capital stock of $18,ooo, each partner contributing a third. Land they acquired included 500 acres of ''Montreal", 300 acres of ''Mile's Forest", 500 acres of "Abbotts Forest''• and 120 acres of "Creeds" as well as parts of "Jones' Addition" and ''Hathaway's Hazard". They also acquired 205 acres of "Rangers Lodge" and "Nova Scotia" from St. George's Vestry, making a total of

_1947 acres. In 1831 they sold out to Joseph and :Edward Patterson and Richard Green who, in 1833,

reorganized as the Harford Furnace Company. They added to the land holdings with parts of ''Daniel's Lott", "Cane By Chance",

"Bond's Adventure", and "Strawberry Hill"purchased at a public sale held by Albert Constable, Trustee. They also purchased 287 acres of "Acker' s Hope" and ''HA HA Indeed" from Martha and Sophia Hall, 166 acres of "Montreal" and "Stony Ridge" from William Holland Divers, and 326 acres of "Friendship" and "Littleworth" from Henry D. Farnandis, Trustee.

The furnace was disassembled in 1839 and in 1845 was rebuilt as a steam and water furnace, 33 feet high, and ~ feet wide at the boshes. By 1857, its main product was car-wheel metal and production had reached 1421 tons annually.

In 1861 ownership changed hands again. At that time, William F. Pannell (listed as postmaster and storekeeper on the 1858 Jen~ings and Herrick Map) purchased the furnace. During his proprietorship, the furnace was supplied by two ore banks: the Walsh ore bank-* -lle northeast of Sewell, with an opening 100 yards wide and 100-200 yards deep; and the S all ore bank-~ mile north of Sewell, with an opening 300 feet wide and 60 feet deep. In

SEE CONTINUATION SHEEI' #1

CONTINUE ON SEPARATE SHEET IF NECESSARY

IJMAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

I\(· ; \ .--.,

""'• '\ • o. ~ i

Alexander, J.H., Report on The Manufacture of Iron Addressed to the Governor of Marylan{ Annapolis, William McNeir, Printer to the Senate, 1840. (Alexander was Topographical Engineer of the State). Archer, George w., History of St. George's Parish, Harford County (fran papers presented to the Maryland Historical Society by Joseph Lee Hughes)

CONTINUE ON SE~AMTE SHEET IX' NECESSAAY SEE CONTINUATION SH~ #1

II!JGEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY _______ _

VERBAL' BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION

LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES

STATE COUNTY

STATE COUNTY

mFORM PREPARED BY NAME I TITLE

ORGANIZATION DATE

STREET & NUMBER TELEPHONE

CITY OR TOWN STATE

The Maryland Historic Sites Inventory was officially created by an Act of the Maryland Legislature, to be found in the Annotated Code of Maryland, Article 41, Section 181 KA, 1974 Supplement.

The Survey and Inventory are being prepared for information and record purposes only and do not constitute any infringe­ment of individual property rights.

RETURN TO: Maryland Historical Trust The Shaw House, 21 State Circle Annapolis, Maryland 21401 (301) 267-1438

PS· I IOI

2 David Smith house (continued) Significance

addition, Davies suggests that ore banks near Little Gunpowder Falls around Joppa were leased on a royalty basis. Transportation of raw materials and the finished products was by the B&o and the Baltimore, Wilmington and Philadelphia railroads.

In 1867, William Pannell sold his 5056 acre holdings to Clement Dietrich, who added a chemical works to the furnace complex. By the time his mortgage was foreclosed and his property ordered to be sold in 1876, Harford Furnace canprised 5873 acres. According to a newspaper advertisement, the 5056 acre parcel sold to Dietrich by Pannell had on it: one charcoal iron furnace, water and steam power, of fifty tons capacity per week, the ore and charcoal kilns; a large chemical works for the manufacture of such products as pyroligneous acid, wood alcohol, acetic acid, sugar of lead, and acetates, consisting in part of: a car­bonization building, 100 x 65 feet, with 24 cylinders and 8 furnaces, having a capacity of 600 bushels of charcoal and 1600 gallons of pyroligneous acid per day; a mythelene building, 60 x 20 feet, for manufRcturing wood alcohol, with a 1000 gallons per month capacity; a building, 200 x 65 feet, for manufacturing acetic acid and acetates, etc., with stills, evaporators, engines, etc., with a 60 x 30 foot warehouse attached to it to store acids; also a ''flouring mill" with water power, and a steam sawmill, 65 x 50 feet, with circular and upright saws. The parcel also included what is described as a stone mansion house "with the usual outbuildings", a stone dwelling, store house, warehouse and offices; three comfortable dwelling houses; 35 dwellings for employees, workmen, etc.; wheelwright, black­smith, coppersmith, cooper and harness shops; barns, stables, barracks, "and other necessary outbuildings"; 400 acres in cultivation around the mansion house, with wood cuttings, young timber, and iron ore banks.

Two other parcels were included in Clement Dietrich's Harford Furnace holdings: one known as the Long Bar Farm, consisting of 510 acres sold to Dietrich by Josiah Lee in 1872. On it were a dwelling house, new corn and wagon house, new stables and other outbuildings, a 50 acre young peach orchard, a l acre pear orchard, iron ore banks and 4 new dwellings "for the use of the hands employed thereat". The other 298 acre pa.reel, described as ''unimproved", lay near Perryman. Fifty acres of wheat, 62 mules, 8 horses, 5 yoke of oxen, cows, and farm implements were also included in the package.

The demise of the Harford furnace in 1876 paralleled concurrent developments in Maryland's iron industry. Between 1865 and 1885, 19 furnaces in Maryland were abandoned: the industry's antiquated 3nd econanically irrational methods Cduld not compete with the rest of the country. Like Harford Furnace, most Maryland iron furnaces made their own charcoal and mined their own iron ore--they were relatively small hand-scale operations carried on in costly ways, run by a furnace boss who knew everything. Between 1860 and 188o, the industry became a highly-specialized, intricately-financed, automated production complex, and steel replaced iron as the m~in product.

H:irford Fu.mace Major Bibliogr~phical References Page 2

Davies, M., Iron Forging and Smelting in P'.aryland; a Relict Indust:r; 1972, University Micro­films, A."ln Arbor, Michigan Mciirai.n, John, The Molinography of Maryland 'ortrait and Biographical Sketches of Harford and Cecil Counties, New York, 1897. ~obbi.n.s, Michael W.; Ma.ryland's Iron Industry During the Revolutionary War Era; prepared for the Maryland Bicentennial Commission Scharf, J. Thomas, The Natural and Industrial Resources and Advantages of Maryland, c. H. Baughman and Co., 1B92 Si:::::mons, Jamee R., "Surveyor's Notation Recalls To Mind the History of Old Harford F\J.rnace'', Harford Gazette, June 27, 1949 Si.ng~~ld, Joseph; The Iron Ores of Maryland; Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 19ll Wright, c. Milton, Our Harford Heritaee, 1967. Land Records: S'llC 246/414, SWC 242/29 ; ALJ 60/508-523; ALJ 60/434, ALJ 54/82, ALJ 48/34o,

AlJ 38/ 274, ALJ 31/432, HD 17/8o, ALJ 2/217, WG 13/149, HD 24/209, HD 12/1, HD 18/151, HOO 35/'.278, HD 14/136, HD 18/150, HD 11/38, JGLP/69, JI.GA /235, JLGA/218, JIG A/2211 JLGA/184

Equity Records: ALJ 38/27 1798 ':'ax Assessment 1878 ~artenet's Map 1858 Jennings & Herrick Map

NPll Form 1 CMI004 (NI)

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service

-"lational Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet

OMS ApprovW No. 1CIU0011

HA- ldiYl

Harford Furnace Historic District HA-1755 Harford County, Maryland

Section number __ 7 _ Page 7.3

had its stonework relaid. A Massive frame lintel marks the original

large opening which is said to have been the location of the barn

door. That bay now houses a kitchen door and three small kitchen

windows.

In 1835 the Glebe was purchased by the owners of Harford

Furnace 4 who used it to house factory workers.

There is a one-story, gable-roofed brick spring-milk house

about 100 yards downhill southeast of the house. Like the main

section it was standing in 1798 and is cited in the tax list, "milk

house 11' by 10'." There is also a modern outbuilding east of the

house constructed by the Glebe's present owners for recreational

purposes, it does not contribute to the historic significance of the

property.

CHARCOAL HOUSE. 2606 Creswell Road; C. 1845 (HA- 1247 )

This one-story, stone structure measures 70' by 22'. Maryland

mill scholar John McGrain, among other sources, has determined that

the building was the charcoal shed for the "steam and water

cold-blast charcoal furnace" built here in 1845. 5 It is located on

Creswell Road, just south of Goat Hill Road. Converted to a

residence c. 1950, the building is of coursed stone with a slate

gable roof and an interior brick chimney. The roof's bargeboards

are sawn into a distinctive wavey pattern. Other woodwork, doors

and window frames, dates to the 1950 adaptive reuse but, when the

shed was converted into domestic use, great care was taken to

duplicate the original design. Some window openings date to 1950;

in the east and, the original door was made into a window and a new

door was opened south of it. The three-bay north side originally

had a center door and two windows but it now has a center door with

two windows to the east and two to the west.

See Continuation Sheet No. 7.4

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service

~~ational Register of Historic Places

,..___David Smith House (HA-1247) (;:: · ·; :, ewe ApptrwW Ho. 1ouoo11

Continuation Sheet Harford Furnace Historic District HA-1755 Harford County, Maryland

Section number 7 Page _ 1_0 _

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Charcoal Shed nov David Saith House Harford FW.ftlace / 1

Creswell, Maryland

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